title: Novel liver visualization and surgical simulation system.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Successful liver surgery requires an understanding of the patient’s particular liver characteristics, including shape and vessel distribution. In clinical medicine, there is a high demand for surgical assistance systems to assess individual patients. Our aims in this study were to segment the liver based on computed tomography volume data and to develop surgical plans for individual patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The hepatic vessels were semi-automatically extracted from the segmented liver images, and the 3D shape of the liver and extracted vessel distribution were visualized using a surgical simulation system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 3D visualization of the liver allowed easy recognition of vessel and tumor location and selection of these structures with the 3D pointing device. The surgeon’s prior knowledge and clinical experience were integrated into the visualization system to create a practical virtual surgery, leading to improved functionality and accuracy of information recognition in the surgical simulation system.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 3D visualization demonstrated details of individual liver structure, resulting in better understanding and practical surgical simulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Hirakata Hospital, Kansai Medical University, 2-3-1 Shinmachi, Hirakata, Osaka 573-1191, Japan. kaibori@hirakata.kmu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaibori
authors.forename: Yen-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Morihiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishizaki
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: Richi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nakatake
authors.forename: Tatsuma
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyawaki
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shindo
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tateyama
authors.forename: A-Hon
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Kwon
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D010934:Planning Techniques; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed